Urban Economics - Market Forces in The Development of Cities

Market Forces in The Development of Cities

Market forces in the development of cities relates to how the location decision of firms and households causes the development of cities. The nature and behavior of markets depends somewhat on their locations therefore market performance partly depends on geography (McCann 2001:1). If a firm locates in a geographically isolated region, their market performance will be different than a firm located in a concentrated region. The location decisions of both firms and households create cities that differ in size and economic structure. When industries cluster, like in the Silicon Valley in California, they create urban areas with dominant firms and distinct economies.

By looking at location decisions of firms and households, the urban economist is able to address why cities develop where they do, why some cities are large and others small, what causes economic growth and decline, and how local governments affect urban growth (O'Sullivan 2003:14). Because urban economics is concerned with asking questions about the nature and workings of the economy of a city, models and techniques developed within the field are primarily designed to analyze phenomena that are confined within the limits of a single city (McCann 2001:2).